The uphill rides are temporarily halted until the problem is fixed.THE Penang Hill funicular train service has been disrupted again – the third time in a little more than a month since its re-opening on April 25 after a RM73mil upgrade.
The service was disrupted at 11.45am yesterday following the failure of an electronic component in the power supply module in one of the two coaches.
Penang Hill Corporation (PHC), which operates the service, then suspended uphill rides but still brought down about 400 passengers at a very slow speed and also ferried them down in jeeps.
PHC general manager Datuk Lee Kah Choon said three engineers from Garaventa AG Switzerland, who have been here to help PHC maintain the coaches for the past couple of weeks, were attending to the problem.
“They are working hard to get the coach running by tomorrow (today),” Lee said in a statement.
PHC senior assistant manager of promotions and marketing Anne Goh said the “technical glitch” caused the train to slow down and not run efficiently.
“We are now bringing down the visitors by jeeps but we are not allowing visitors to go up the hill with the train because we need to figure out the cause of the glitch,” she said.
The upgraded system first broke down on May 3 after a stray dog hit a sensitive component of the coach. It broke down again on June 3 after an electrical problem in one of two coaches.
Not going up: Noraha and her daughter Nasihah binti Md Nasir, 13, reading the notice on the service disruption.
Many children visiting the Penang Hill during their school holidays were seen disappointed upon being told that the train service had been disrupted.
Student S. Palani from Malacca was sad he could not ride the new train.
“This is my first time to Penang Hill and I really wanted to see the hill,” he said.
Grandmother Aminah binti Puteh, 67 who brought her grandchildren from Kuala Lumpur, said the service had been disrupted numerous times of late.
“It’s a waste of time coming all the way and not being able to go up,” she said.
Her grandson, Alliff Azhar, 18, added that he was really looking forward to going up to the hill.
“I feel bad for my younger cousins because they were so eager to ride the train,” he said.
Teacher Noraha binti Saad, 38 from Kuala Lumpur was there with her daughters waiting for the train to be fixed.
“We came all the way from KL and we are leaving Penang today. My daughters were looking forward to going up the hill. I will stay for a while more and hope it gets fixed soon,” she said.
Tourists Jack Lamm, 23, and Anthony Veal, 21, both from England, said they would probably try to take the jeep up.
“We may even trek up Penang Hill via the Botanical Gardens,” said Lamm.
~~News courtesy of The Star~
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